[Article] Professor Ji Hoon Lee's Team from the Department of New Material Engineering presents a new approach to electrochemical carbon reduction process
- Date
- 2022/11/04
- Writer
- Kyungpook National University
- Hit
- 653
A Study on the Mechanism of Product Distribution by Polymer Adhesive
Professor Ji Hoon Lee's team in the Department of New Materials Engineering collaborated
with Professor Jingwang G. Chen of Columbia University to identify the electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction
reaction mechanism controlled through the functional group of polymer adhesives
and suggested a new approach to the carbon reduction process.
The electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction, which can receive hydrogen from water
and upcycle carbon dioxide into high-value-added chemicals, is evaluated as a technology that can achieve carbon neutrality
through various technologies and economic evaluations.
Catalysts that can reduce carbon dioxide are very limited, and most use expensive precious metal elements,
so the manufacturing cost is high. Copper oxide (CuOx), a catalyst with excellent price competitiveness,
can produce hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, acids, and alcohols with high added value due to electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reactions.
Still, there was a limitation that it was difficult to produce one product selectively.
To solve this problem, Professor Lee's team paid attention to the functionality of "polymer adhesives,"
a substance needed to evenly apply catalyst materials on carbon electrodes and adhere them firmly.
The Nafion adhesive, which has been widely used in the past, has both a hydrophilic functional group
and a hydrophobic functional group, so it was impossible to efficiently control the amount of hydrogen that could react with carbon dioxide.
Professor Lee's team confirmed that if hydrophilic polyacrylic acid (PAA) or hydrophobic polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)
is used as a polymer adhesive, the amount of hydrogen transferred to the catalyst electrode layer can be effectively controlled,
and thus antic acid or hydrocarbon can be selectively produced.
In other words, it presented a basis for controlling the amount of hydrogen and
selectively obtaining a product using polymer adhesives with different affinities for water.
Through real-time X-ray analysis conducted by Pohang Accelerator Research Institute,
Through real-time X-ray analysis conducted by Pohang Accelerator Research Institute,
Professor Lee's team confirmed that all copper oxide catalysts turn into copper metals.
This result supports the change in the reaction path as the carbon dioxide conversion reaction occurs
on the copper metal surface and the polymer adhesive controls the hydrogen supply.
Professor Ji Hoon Lee said, "It is very meaningful in that it reports to the academic community the importance of polymer adhesives,
Professor Ji Hoon Lee said, "It is very meaningful in that it reports to the academic community the importance of polymer adhesives,
which have not received relatively much attention compared to catalyst materials.
Currently, most catalyst electrode layers constituting the fuel cell use Nafion.
This study suggests that in addition to the existing expensive Nafion adhesives,
it is necessary to shed new light on multifunctional polymer adhesives with excellent price competitiveness.
"We expect it to contribute greatly to domestic and foreign carbon neutral research."
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